RSteve
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2008
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In 1975, I was in the process of a divorce, working both as on-air announcer and operating manager of a radio station. I hired a young woman, who was right out of broadcasting school. She was 24 and, as I later discovered, had just gone through a divorce. She had a three-year-old son, who was going to stay with her parents, while she got established. She had a marvelous voice, was extremely pretty, but was in real need of on-air experience. After about a year, she was ready to move on and did. Every few months, for a couple of years, she'd check in with me, then, nothing.
In 1984, Playboy magazine ran a pictorial of the "Women in Radio." I saw the magazine in the barbershop. I had married again and had a 6-year-old daughter. My wife would have kicked my arse if I brought a Playboy into the house. The woman I'd trained in 1975 was full page frontal naked in the magazine. I phoned the radio station where it said she worked and asked the receptionist if she'd pass a message on to her to call me. I was very clear. She knows me and if you check her personnel file, I am one of her references. I was told that months earlier, immediately after she was photographed for Playboy, she left the station and had returned to St. Paul with her son, so he could go to a local parochial middle/high school. She had taken a job with a local transportation company as a dispatcher.
I hadn't heard from her for 30 years. A few months after my wife passed away in 2008, I received a condolence card with a note that simply said, "If you'd like to talk...and her cell phone number. We had lunch at a local restaurant. For age 57-58, she still looked fairly attractive, but worn and thicker. Her life hadn't been easy. Neither of us mentioned the Playboy photo, but I was curious. We talked about old times, radio trade talk, etc. and parted ways with a hug and her comment, "In case you're curious, I do have a steady guy."
Last night, out of the blue, my phone rang and her name appeared on the screen. I answered, greeting her by name and "What's shakin?" She laughed and said "I'm getting a new cell phone and decided to edit my contacts list to see if it's current." We talked for about half an hour. Her voice is still like silk. Finally, I asked the question, "Whatever possessed you to pose buck naked in that Playboy?"
"As you probably read, I was working in Houston, far from home and family. My son was with me and the station didn't pay s**t. We were living on the border of poverty. I was in deep debt, behind a few months rent. I thought I still looked pretty good at almost 34 and the offer of $10,000 dollars for a photo shoot was the answer to all my money problems. And to tell you the truth, I'd do it again if they asked me."
We both laughed and I said, "I don't think there are any magazines paying $10-grand to 70-year-old women to pose nude." To which she quickly replied, "I'll bet Stevie Nicks could get it."
We made no plans to get together until Covid is a memory.
What I've always found both interesting and confounding is that although I'm only about 6-7 years older than she is, she has always interacted with me as though I am very much older than her. Perhaps, it's because I was an early mentor?
In 1984, Playboy magazine ran a pictorial of the "Women in Radio." I saw the magazine in the barbershop. I had married again and had a 6-year-old daughter. My wife would have kicked my arse if I brought a Playboy into the house. The woman I'd trained in 1975 was full page frontal naked in the magazine. I phoned the radio station where it said she worked and asked the receptionist if she'd pass a message on to her to call me. I was very clear. She knows me and if you check her personnel file, I am one of her references. I was told that months earlier, immediately after she was photographed for Playboy, she left the station and had returned to St. Paul with her son, so he could go to a local parochial middle/high school. She had taken a job with a local transportation company as a dispatcher.
I hadn't heard from her for 30 years. A few months after my wife passed away in 2008, I received a condolence card with a note that simply said, "If you'd like to talk...and her cell phone number. We had lunch at a local restaurant. For age 57-58, she still looked fairly attractive, but worn and thicker. Her life hadn't been easy. Neither of us mentioned the Playboy photo, but I was curious. We talked about old times, radio trade talk, etc. and parted ways with a hug and her comment, "In case you're curious, I do have a steady guy."
Last night, out of the blue, my phone rang and her name appeared on the screen. I answered, greeting her by name and "What's shakin?" She laughed and said "I'm getting a new cell phone and decided to edit my contacts list to see if it's current." We talked for about half an hour. Her voice is still like silk. Finally, I asked the question, "Whatever possessed you to pose buck naked in that Playboy?"
"As you probably read, I was working in Houston, far from home and family. My son was with me and the station didn't pay s**t. We were living on the border of poverty. I was in deep debt, behind a few months rent. I thought I still looked pretty good at almost 34 and the offer of $10,000 dollars for a photo shoot was the answer to all my money problems. And to tell you the truth, I'd do it again if they asked me."
We both laughed and I said, "I don't think there are any magazines paying $10-grand to 70-year-old women to pose nude." To which she quickly replied, "I'll bet Stevie Nicks could get it."
We made no plans to get together until Covid is a memory.
What I've always found both interesting and confounding is that although I'm only about 6-7 years older than she is, she has always interacted with me as though I am very much older than her. Perhaps, it's because I was an early mentor?
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